Life of Pie: Second Chances
by BrilliantDarkness
Summary: The final tale of pie. This features Rachel and Janusz as they both give thanks for second chances at happiness.


"More roast beef?" Rachel inquired as she stood next to her husband's chair holding the platter.

He merely nodded and lifted his plate.

Rachel stabbed a slice of meat with a fork and placed it on his plate. She couldn't help the blush that rose to her cheeks at the glint she found in Janusz's weary eyes.

"You look tired," she remarked as she settled herself back into the seat across the table from him. "Rough day?"

He shook his head.

"Just busy," he replied. "I have not had a good assistant since Jesse. There is so much work."

Janusz lifted a forkful of food but stopped before it reached his lips.

"You look happy today, Kochanie," he noted. "Yours was a good day, then?"

Rachel simply nodded suppressing the jubilant laughter that welled within her remembering the day.

"Tell me," he prodded.

"Oh, you're not interested in my day, Jan," Rachel tried to dismiss.

"I care about anything that puts a smile on your face."

It was all the encouragement Rachel needed. Frankly, she was just dying to tell someone about it. She rested her elbows on the table as she leaned forward.

"Remember I told you about the little Cosgrove boy?"

"His parents didn't want to send him to school with his sisters, right?"

"Right," Rachel confirmed. "They thought he wasn't smart enough because he didn't talk like the others and seemed a little clumsy."

"I remember."

"Well, you know I talked them into letting me try to work with him a little," Rachel went on. "He's behind the others his age and I was beginning to wonder myself if he really could learn what I was trying to teach him."

"You do not doubt now?"

"He read today, Janusz!" Rachel exclaimed. "It wasn't much and it was really simple but he read! He can read!"

"Maybe, like me, he just needed someone to believe in him," Janusz said plainly as he placed the tender morsel of meat in his mouth.

Rachel watched Janusz close his eyes in appreciation of her cooking. She remembered the first time she saw him. Not the first day he came to town, that wasn't the sort of situation where she really felt she could take stock of the new man in town. He was being accused of robbery after all.

Rachel's thoughts were not of the day when he rode into Rock Creek to collect his meager five dollars from the bank or of the conversations that followed with Teaspoon and the riders about second chances. No, her thoughts were of the first day she really saw him, saw something inside of him that was more than the stories she heard or the accusations that flew. That was the day he stood in the doorway of the schoolhouse asking for her help.

_Rachel was sitting at her desk grading papers the students had turned in that day. The thought had just occurred to her that maybe it was time to think about heading for home and getting supper started for her boys when she felt eyes on her._

_Slowly she lifted her head and looked toward the door. There he was. With all the talk swirling about him in the town, Rachel didn't know what to think or what to do. The way his eyes bored into her made her feel like she needed to pull her shawl tighter and yet her corset was suddenly far too tight._

"_You are schoolteacher?" he asked with his thick accent and fractured, self-taught English. _

_She nodded uncertainly._

"_I need you to come with me."_

_His voice was gruff and his features set in what might have looked like anger. But his eyes...his eyes burned with pain and desperation. She just stared at him unable to move._

"_Please," he nearly whispered. It was raw and honest. This was important. Somehow...somehow she just knew there was nothing to fear._

In the years that had passed since that first true meeting, the events that followed had become a blur to Rachel. If she took the time to think about it, she could almost pinpoint the moments when she had fallen in love with the man, or at least when the seeds of that love were planted. Reading Rosa's words made her need to know more. The way she spoke of this good and hard working man began a slow change in Rachel's heart.

Rachel was so grateful for Janusz's safety that it had only been on reflection that she fully appreciated his words to Ruth. He could have been angry and yet he was gentle and forgiving. The empathy he showed to Ruth's situation nearly made Rachel weep.

She could also clearly remember the moments when their future could have been stolen from them by the bad acts of others. It wouldn't have been the first time that the cruelty of one man had robbed her of the love of another.

Janusz didn't love her then. She knew that and maybe she didn't love him just yet at that time either. But there was something between them...a spark, a light...heat. It couldn't be denied forever.

Rachel was brought from her thoughts by the sound of Janusz's fork on his plate. He was just using the last piece of his biscuit to push the last bit of potatoes and gravy onto his fork. She watched him as he, with a satisfied smile, put first the potatoes and then the biscuit into his mouth. Goodness how she loved his smile, and thought back to the first time she actually saw it reach his eyes and soften his world weary features and shift her insides all around.

_It had been a few weeks since Janusz had taken over as the new blacksmith for the town of Rock Creek. It was clear he felt awkward about it at first but it didn't take long for him to become a regular member of the community._

_Rachel greeted him each day as she walked by his shop on the way to or from school. He was always cordial to her but...there was something more. Something in his smile or maybe the tone of his voice that said so much more than, "Good morning, Mrs. Dunne" or "Good afternoon, Mrs. Dunne."_

_One day she found herself with a few extra minutes to stop and chat on her way to the schoolhouse. _

"_Mr. Tarkosky?" she asked and nearly had to step back from the power of his gaze as his eyes met hers. "Janusz...I-I wanted to stop a moment and see how you were settling in. You know...ask if you needed anything."_

_She hoped it didn't sound as weak to him as it felt to her. Neighbors asked after each other after all and he was a neighbor of sorts._

_He smiled at her then and everything inside her shifted around. She supposed she had noticed what a handsome man he was before that moment but it hadn't fully registered before then. He was handsome and his smile was warm and all for her. _

"_Thank you, Rachel," he replied. "I am fine. The town has been kind to me."_

"_We told you they weren't bad people," she reminded him, hoping she didn't sound as breathless as she felt._

"_I have you to thank for all this," he said suddenly looking very serious. "I don't know where I would be if not for...you."_

"_You don't have to thank me," she said. "I just believe people should be given a chance. I'm glad it turned out like it did."_

_That day she turned the children loose early. Many needed to get home to chores with the weather being so nice. That left her few students and she didn't want the others to fall behind so she sent them all home._

Even now, as she watched Janusz eat, Rachel reflected on her initial feelings...

_His smile, always so sad, never quite reached his eyes. Until that morning that is. The smile he gave her was complete and yet...there was something else. His words had been kind and grateful but she couldn't shake the feeling there was more he wanted to say to her. Maybe he didn't dare say what he wanted or maybe he didn't know the words. _

"Hey, Kochanie, where are you at? You've hardly touched your food."

Rachel looked down at her half eaten plate of food then met Janusz's dark brown eyes that caressed her face, and felt a fierce wave of heat creep into her cheeks. "I'm sorry...I just..well, your smile, I was thinking back...I couldn't help admiring the way it lights up your face..." She felt silly saying that, just like a foolish schoolgirl and here she was married to the man for three years.

Noticing his fork slipping from his perfectly shaped mouth and land on his now empty plate, Rachel quickly stood up, smoothing her skirts in the process, and ran her hands over her still hot cheeks.

"Ready for dessert?" she asked and he nodded, never shifting his gaze off of Rachel, as he finished chewing and swallowing.

Rachel brought out the pie and placed a large slice on Janusz's plate, along with a much smaller piece on her plate. There was no missing the look on his face when he saw what kind of pie it was. Pecan. He remembered. Of course he did. Neither of them would ever forget it. Rachel never would, it was the most perfect pie she'd ever made, as her mind slipped back to that long ago day. Her eyes betrayed her and shifted away from his and grazed appreciatively over his muscular shoulders and strong forearms. Rachel felt her knees weaken as she snapped her green eyes back to Janusz. A crooked grin was forming on his face, causing Rachel to turn away before her legs had a chance to really buckle and wind up on the floor, pie and all, in a very attractive heap. Making her way back towards the kitchen, Rachel never saw the full out grin that spread across Janusz's face or the admiring glint that smoldered in his eyes.

Placing the sweet pastry back in her pie safe, Rachel, in the privacy of her small kitchen, let her mind wander back to that first pie.

_Once she arrived back at the station, she contemplated her interaction with Janusz. He still seemed...sad. She observed him working. It was hard not to with his sleeves pushed up to reveal the rippling muscles in his arms as he worked. She doubted there was a red-blooded woman out there who wouldn't at least take some notice of him. He seemed content in his work._

_He greeted all who passed his shop and smiled readily at them. Jesse said he was a good and fair boss. But something was still sad about him. She couldn't find another word for it. _

_She could not shake the thought that there was more that he wanted to say to her. Maybe, she thought, he might feel free to say what he wanted to say if he wasn't on the street in town. Maybe if it was just the two of them...maybe then he could tell her what he seemed to be holding back._

_Earlier in the week, Rachel had splurged a little and bought two bags of pecans. She didn't get them all the time but she so loved them. Over the last couple of days, she had shelled the nuts and now had a good amount of just the nut meats ready for baking into pies. The corners of her mouth turned up with the glint of an idea._

_She set to work mixing and rolling dough and then mixing ingredients for filling. Finally she set the last of four pies in the oven. Three would easily feed her boys and one more...one more for Janusz. She wondered if he'd ever had pecan pie. She wondered what foods his Rosa had made for him before her death. Perhaps a cookbook could be found with recipes from Poland. Just to make him feel more at home, Rachel thought._

_Once the pies were baked and cooling, Rachel set supper to cook for her boys. Jimmy was in the bunkhouse when Rachel came in. She had hoped to find Lou there but Jimmy would have to do._

"_Jimmy, I wonder if you could do me a favor?"_

"_Sure Rachel," he said with an easy smile. "What do you need?"_

"_I have to take a pie to a neighbor," she answered more elusively than she typically would. "Could you keep an eye on supper for me? It's just stew. Stir it once in a while and make sure it doesn't burn to the bottom of the pan. I have the biscuits ready for the oven too. Remember how to bake those?"_

"_I remember," he told her as his brow furrowed. "Are you alright, Rachel? You seem...out of sorts or something."_

"_I'm fine, Jimmy."_

"_Who're you taking the pie to? Is someone sick or something?"_

_Rachel sighed. She tried to think up some lie or some way to veil the truth. Well, she didn't have to tell him the whole story._

"_I'm taking a pie to Janusz," she finally said. _

_A wide smile spread across Jimmy's features at that._

"_I think he'll like that a lot," he said. _

"_I hope so," Rachel replied sounding more worried than she meant to._

"_Should we wait up for you?" Jimmy asked with a mischievous grin._

"_James Hickok! You should be ashamed of yourself!"_

"_I'm just teasing, Rachel," he said holding up his hands in surrender. "Just remember that if he don't mind his manners, I don't have any problem with teaching him how to treat a lady."_

"_I'm sure I'll be just fine, Jimmy," Rachel assured him. "But thank you. It's nice to have someone looking out for me."_

"Rachel, are you alright?" Janusz inquired from the doorway of the kitchen.

So lost in her memories, Rachel had forgotten she left her husband sitting out in the dining room all alone, waiting for her return so he could eat his pie. Turning, she smiled sheepishly at the handsome man framed in the doorway, praying her face wouldn't betray where her thoughts had traveled.

"I'm sorry, I...I ...well I got in here and decided a fresh cup of coffee would go along nicely with your pie" Rachel replied as she deftly snatched up the coffee pot.

"That does sound good, Kochanie. But don't take too long. With a piece of delicious pie sitting in front of a man, well, even a man like myself only has so much self control..."

Pouring water into the pot, Rachel swallowed hard and was amazed that she didn't drop the coffee pot into the sink as her belly flipped in earth defying ways as heat flooded her.

"I'll be right there, Jan."

"I'll be waiting, but don't be too long."

"I won't...just about finished." Rachel called, hoping her voice held true, because her mind was racing back to that ride she took to Janusz's house and the sight that met her eyes when she arrived...

_More than once on the trip to Janusz's cabin, Rachel thought to turn around. She was afraid of the intensity she found unveiled in his deep brown eyes._

_Yet she could not steer herself clear of the mystery within those eyes. What did he want to tell her? What did he need her to know? Would the answer keep her knees from turning to jelly every time he turned his gaze upon her?_

_Approaching his place she found yet another reason to turn back-a man who thought himself alone. Surely if he thought anyone might be near, he would not have removed his shirt in the yard. And he would not be cleaning himself so openly next to the pump._

_Rachel knew she shouldn't stare. She should turn around and go home. If she wanted him to have pie, she should bring it to him at work. That would be proper and respectable. _

_Staring at his well-muscled torso was not proper. Watching intently as sunlight shone off the drops of water that washed away the day's toil and sweat from his work weary body was decidedly not proper nor the conduct of a respectable woman._

_Respectable or not, Rachel found she simply could not help herself. He was, in a word, beautiful. Beauty ought to be admired. And admire him she did._

_Of course she could not continue to sit there gawking at him forever either. Rachel knew she either needed to turn around and head for the station or go forward to him as she had originally set out to do._

_The decision proved easy to make. For all of her fears and uncertainties, it came down to doing what she most wanted. Put simply, what she wanted most was to be nearer to him._

_Rachel approached slowly. She didn't want to startle him, she reasoned. Also it bought her more time to figure exactly what she would say to him._

_Each step the horse took brought Rachel's buckboard closer to the man still splashing the cool water from the pump over his head and chest. Her eyes remained riveted on his broad shoulders—broader than when he'd first arrived in Rock Creek. Blacksmithing was hard work and his body showed the effects of the exertion._

_Rachel thought she was being quiet or that he was too absorbed in what he was doing to notice her but then he spoke._

"_Hello Mrs. Dunne. I am sorry for my appearance."_

"_Don't be," Rachel replied. She was proud of herself for not stammering. "The boys at the station aren't all that modest."_

"_But I am not family to you," he said turning to face her. He shrugged into his shirt and began to button it. As much as Rachel wanted to lament the hiding of his form, she had to admit that it was easier to concentrate without the distraction. "I should act more appropriate to a lady."_

_Rachel blushed. His words were simple and honest but his voice, his eyes carried so much more. His eyes filled with admiration of her. He sounded sad to say they were not family. If he had fallen at her feet reciting poetry, she would not have felt so...honored._

_Janusz just looked at her and Rachel remembered, with some difficulty, what had brought her here in the first place. _

"_I brought you something," she said as she fought to keep her composure when his hands grasped her waist to gently lift her from the buckboard. _

_Her eyes darted to the item still sitting on the seat of the buckboard. Before she could turn to retrieve it, Janusz reached and handed it to her._

"_It's a pie," she explained weakly. "Pecan pie...that's always been my favorite. I thought maybe...maybe you'd like something sweet."_

"_I have always had a weakness for...sweet things," he told her as his eyes delved deep into hers. Rachel was uncertain how to respond._

_They stood for a moment just staring at each other. It was Janusz who broke the silence._

"_You will come inside?" he asked. "To share this with me."_

_Rachel just stared at him for a moment wondering if he had really spoken or if she had imagined it. When he kept looking back at her expectantly, she merely nodded._

Rachel let out a sigh as she pulled out her good coffee cups, instead of her every day ones Janusz used all the time. She knew he was waiting and quickly poured the fresh rich brew into each cup as she recalled stepping into his house for the first time.

_Once inside, Rachel distracted herself from his proximity to her by searching the kitchen for a knife and some plates and then by dishing up generous slices of the pie. Of course once she had completed that task, there was nothing else to distract her from his intense gaze. _

There was nothing more to distract her from her current task either as she held the two steaming cups of coffee. The man she loved was waiting in their dining room.

Placing cups on the table, Rachel settled herself down beside Janusz. He smiled and finally took a bite of pie, his smile widened, shining in his eyes. Rachel thought her heart would stop. She had seen him smile more times than she could recall since they were married. What was it about tonight that seemed to leave her breathless? It was just a pie, yet he seemed to see right through her, just like he did when they first shared pecan pie.

_His eyes, the way they studied her...they made her heart race and her breath shallow. Rachel's eyes darted around for something else to look at. They settled on Janusz's hands. She saw his coffee cup nearly swallowed by his large hand, watched as that hand almost delicately picked up his fork to sample the confection before him._

_Her mind wandered as she pondered his hands. They were big and strong and capable of hard work. And yet they were gentle when he placed them on her waist to help her from the buckboard. Much like his eyes that held such complexity, his hands were a contradiction. Of course Janusz himself was a maze of complexities and contradictions. Rachel absentmindedly took a small bite of the pecan pie as she thought of how much she might enjoy trying to untangle the enigma in front of her._

"_This pie," Janusz said drawing Rachel's thoughts back to the man in front of her and her eyes to his dark and intense ones. "It is...good. No...good is not enough. It is wonderful."_

_Perhaps there had been some apprehension about how the pie would be received. Rachel hadn't thought she was nervous about that but after his approval of the pie, she relaxed and conversation came easier. They were able to laugh off the tension that had surrounded them and the whole town when Janusz had first come. _

_Rachel had given into Janusz's insistence and had a second helping along with him. Normally she wouldn't indulge that much. Of course, normally it wasn't an option with all the hungry young men reaching for seconds. _

_But,as the conversation started to wane, Rachel couldn't hold off eating that one last bite as Janusz placed his fork on his now empty plate, Empty as the air and space that now filled the room with silence. Their conversation had died out like a once flickering candle flame._

_Rachel stood and looked around awkwardly. She needed to leave. It was time. It would grow dark soon and she shouldn't be noted at the house of an unmarried man so late in the evening. But she didn't want to leave. She wanted to find more things to talk about. She wanted to see him laugh, see the way the corners of his eyes crinkled with a smile, how those brooding, dark eyes could dance._

"_I...I should be going," she finally managed, her voice thin and begging him to stop her._

_Janusz simply nodded. He too knew the importance of appearances._

_Rachel headed for the door. Her hand reached for the knob the same time as his. Their fingers met and Rachel sucked in a breath sharply. She turned to look at him. Their eyes locked and something shifted. The air was charged and dense around them. Silence echoed in Rachel's ears. Even the cricket that had just started chirping outside the door ceased his serenade._

_Something seemed to shift in Janusz as well. His eyes darkened and Rachel felt in danger of losing herself completely in them. They were endless, deep and...hungry. There was no other word to describe what she saw in their depths. The understanding hit her a mere moment before his lips met hers._

_Rachel felt her heart skip a beat and then resume at a torrid pace. His lips were fiery and demanding and yet held tenderness and reverence for her. Her knees went weak and she was certain she was being kept from falling by his kiss alone._

_There was nothing for her to do but respond to his kiss. And nothing she wanted more to do. Rachel thought perhaps she had wanted this from the moment she saw him standing in the doorway of the schoolhouse._

_Now she stood, back against the wall next to his door, awash with the sensation of his hands on her face, his lips tender yet demanding on hers. She wrapped her arms around him and held his solid body closer. _

_His hands travelled down her neck to her shoulders, her arms, her waist. Rachel's hands were just as busy as she raked her fingers down his back and without thought began to bunch his untucked shirt allowing her access to the heated flesh beneath._

_As her fingers touched his skin, she suddenly remembered herself, her position. She could not do this...as much as she wanted to._

"_Janusz," she nearly whimpered as she reluctantly pushed him away. "I'm sorry."_

_Janusz stepped back as if scalded._

"_No," he said with great force in his voice. "I am sorry. I should not…"_

_Without thought, Rachel reached and brushed her fingers along his cheek._

"_I'm glad you did," she told him. "I just...I can't stay...not now...not like this."_

_With those words she was out the door._

As Rachel wiped and placed the last cup back in the cupboard, she smiled at the memory of that day and thanked her stars she had found the courage to approach him with the pie. From that day, they had formally courted and one morning when she passed him on her way to the schoolhouse, Janusz came out onto the boardwalk and took her hand.

Rachel remembered wondering why he looked around and seemed satisfied to spot Teaspoon standing close by. To this day she wasn't sure if he was confirming that there was a witness or taking comfort in the presence of a friend who had been in this situation a time or two himself.

Her heart had fluttered as he lowered himself to one knee before her. She knew if she lived to be a thousand that she would never forget the words he uttered to her.

"Rachel, I came to this town after I lose everything. I thought I would not love again. My Rosa was gone. I found only hatred of me here. And then I met you. I have life again. I have love again. All I can want is you in my life. I ask you, my Kochanie, please marry me."

It was something she thought might not happen for her again but somehow she was granted a second chance.

* * *

Later that evening Rachel stood in the doorway of little Rosa's room. The child wasn't quite two years yet but she was the apple of her father's eye. There had never been a question of what to name her. It had been Rosa's words after all that had allowed Rachel to see Janusz for the man he was and those words that also saved his life and gave him the second chance he so desperately wanted.

Rachel sometimes thought she could spend an eternity just watching her daughter in peaceful slumber. As she stood watching the babe sleeping, she felt familiar arms winding around her middle and she leaned back against the sturdy form behind her, resting her head against the muscles of his broad chest.

Lips brushed lightly over the side of her head just behind her ear before she heard him whisper.

"I too remember the first time you made pecan pie for me. I also remember when you left me that night. It took all the strength I had to let you go. I wanted...I needed..." His voice trailed away as he was unable to find the words he thought he needed. Rachel leaned deeper into his chest letting him know that no more words were needed.

His arms tightened around her waist as his lips descended on her neck in earnest. Then he pulled away from her. Rachel turned her head and frowned up at him. He took the chance to place a tender kiss on her mouth.

Then he smiled at her and Rachel felt she might just melt from the inside out at the joy that danced in his dark eyes. She smiled back and felt a lump forming in her throat under the weight of gratitude she'd never be able to voice. Gratitude for the second chances they had both been granted.

Janusz took a step back and then caught her hand in his before pulling her toward the room they shared with a wink and a quirk of his eyebrow. Rachel giggled and happily followed where he led.

* * *

**I'm still here! I know some of you probably thought I dropped off the edge of the earth but...I'm still here. School is hard. Add to that some family health drama (mostly resolving and not as doomy as it first looked) and work and two teenagers and I've been a little over my head. The draft of this story was written months ago and my dear Beulah had diligently beta-ed for me...I just had no time to truly finish editing. But I've been on break. My first day of classes for fall term was today. So far I am not hopelessly lost so maybe I'll be alright. But I had some time to put the finishing touches on this.**

**You may also note, dear reader, that this marks the last installment of Life of Pie. I am both relieved and sad to see this series come to a finish. I had wondered for a while if poor Rachel would ever get her pie. I should thank my lovely Myrtle for the inspiration of Rachel and Janusz together. I don't know if I saw it at first but rewatching the episode, I can definitely see the sparks and smolder between them.**

**Oh yeah...and I'm now a grandmother...which is the coolest thing ever! My beautiful C (as we have nicknamed her) is by far the smartest, prettiest and most perfect baby ever! **

**It feels good to post something again. I have missed you all. I hope to even be able to catch up with reading eventually...**

**Kisses, Jenna**


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